A quaint but lively town filled with history has been crowned the cheapest in the UK. The government is getting ready to slash temporary stamp duty discounts, while mortgage rates remain sky-high – meaning many of us can only ever dream about getting on the property ladder.
According to housing experts over at Right Move, a typical first-time buyer is currently paying a whopping mortgage of £940 per month, compared with just £590 per month in 2020. The average five-year mortgage rate now also stands at 4.69 per cent, compared to 2.22 per cent at this time in March 2020.
It’s a bleak situation for many (although a slight improvement from 2023 where mortgage rates averaged out at an eye-watering 6.11 per cent) and means that many Brits will be needing to re-evaluate their budget. Luckily, Right Move has compiled the 10 cheapest areas for first-time buyers – and the results might surprise you…
The pros recently crowned Kilmarnock as one of the cheapest places in the UK to live, with the asking price for a first-time buyer averaging out at just £84,325. That’s more than five times cheaper than the property prices in London – where the average cost of a flat comes to a whopping £590,543.
Meaning the ‘church of Mernóc’, Kilmarnock is the largest town in East Ayrshire, Scotland – and has a relatively small population of 46,159 residents. It is a quaint area brimming with culture and history: home to the largest Burns monument in the country and the birthplace of everybody’s favourite whisky brand, Johnnie Walker.
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“Bank Street [in Kilmarnock] is a charming cobbled street in the historic core, with the elegant John Finnie Street boasting one of the best examples of provincial Victorian architecture in Scotland,” said Visit Scotland, the country’s official tourist board. “The Dick Institute and Palace Theatre offer first class cultural and leisure experiences within the town centre, with the Burns Monument Centre close by in the beautiful setting of Kay Park. Dean Castle and Country Park offer a fantastic day out for all the family with a programme of events and exhibitions throughout the year.”
Kilmarnock has a train station and is just half an hour away from Glasgow, making it an ideal base for anyone working in the city. Edinburgh is a bit further afield, and would take one and a half hours in the car – or 15 minutes longer by train.
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